asked the Minister for Agriculture if he is aware of the hardship and inconvenience imposed on sheep rearers by the prohibition of the seasonal sales of breeding ewes in the Dublin sales yards, and if he is further aware that unless some steps are taken at once to remedy the situation, the western sheep owners— principally of Galway and Roscommon —will find themselves encumbered with a double complement of sheep, while eastern county farmers cannot get their farms stocked with the breeding sheep necessary to next year's lamb production.

The holding of sheep sales in sale yards in the Borough of Dublin is prohibited, but any applications received for licences to hold such sales at centres in Dublin County have been granted. In addition, sales are being held at centres in County Meath to which sheep from the Counties Galway and Roscommon can be sent without restriction.